To Alexis: Paul McCartney finally admitted in his 'Wingspan' documentary some years ago that the sacking had nothing to do with Pete's ability as a drummer. After all, it was Pete who developed 'the atom beat' which was copied by all the Liverpool drummers. And Paul McCartney, Ron Richards and George Martin didn't like Ringo's drumming when the Beatles went to Abbey Road after sacking Pete, which is why they hired Andy White. He was hired because they had no confidence in Ringo. Yet, both Ringo's and Andy's version of the recordings were issued, one on the single, one on the album. John Lennon had got on well with Pete and was embarrassed by it all, he was to say they were cowards when they sacked Pete. George was the main one responsible for getting rid of Pete. Brian Epstein actually wanted the replacement to be Johnny Hutchinson of the Big Three.

Thank you for these fascinating insights, Bill! Ah, Pete Best: the original Mr. Spock.

Do you recall George's reason for wanting to get rid of Pete? Thanks.

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All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007<br />

He had a special rapport with Ringo. He even went to Ringo's house to ask if he'd join, but Ringo's mum told him he was at Butlin's with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. I printed that in Mersey Beat, but I don't know if that's the reason why Bruno gave him that black eye. On the Mersey Beat cover where they are gathered at Speke airport to fly down to London and record, you can see George's shiner!

In your opinion, did the band seem to click better after Ringo joined? George has said so (naturally), and George Martin said so (at least eventually), but was it noticeable at the time? I think one of the things that was most appealing about the Beatles when we Americans finally saw them was their "all for one and one for all" kind of camaraderie.

As an aside, I fell into your site awhile back and didn't come out for two days. It sounds like you're still adding to it. I guess I'd better get back over there.

Thanks for participating in this forum! I feel like I'm visiting the oracle. Would you prefer sheep or goats for your offering? Cheers!

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All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007<br />

If you like the Mersey Beat site you'll like my other site. It's www.rockandpopshop.com If you go to the home page, see 'Editorial' at the top and click that, you'll see several editorial features. 'Mersey Artists' has detailed profiles of around 80 Mersey artists. 'Bill Harry's Mersey Beat' ifeatures issue by issue of the original paper with my comments and anecdotes on the original stories. there is also the full story of the Mersey Beat paper.

Thanks for the link, Bill! I can see I'll have to fall into the archives for a while.

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All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007<br />

Hi Bill, This isn't really Beatle related although it sorta is since it has to do with Paul but at the moment I am researching information for a biography that I'm writing on former Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and I was wondering if you could offer any advice or stories if you saw Wings or Jimmy or anything?

Here is a piece I wrote about him in my 'Paul McCartney Encyclopedia.'McCulloch, Jimmy. A young guitarist who had a brief, but glorious spell with Wings. Jimmy was born in Glasgow on June 4 1953. At the age of 13 he joined a band called One In A Million. He was sixteen when he performed on a No. 1 record,

Hey, Welcome Bill! You've finally found DM's! i really enjoy reading your books very much! i'm always looking through them for information.just wondering, when was the last time you saw Paul McCartney?

Hey Bill, I was wondering if you could possibly shed some light on a topic Marshall and I and few other members talked about before. When Ringo was playing with Rory, he had a showcase called 'Starr Time' and as far as we know, he played 'Boys', 'Your Sixteen', 'Alley Oop', and 'Big Noise From Winetka'.

My question to you is would you possibly know if that was the complete setlist for the showcase or if there were other songs involved. Also, is there any known soundclips to any of those showcases avaliable anywhere?

If i'm barking up the wrong tree, I apologize, but it never hurts to ask. Thanks.

A number of years ago, backstage at a Rod Stewart concert, I was talking to Iris Caldwell, Rory's sister. She told me that she had a tape of a complete set of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes playing at the Cavern, when Ringo was a member. She said it had been recorded on a domestic tape recorder. I told her this was a fantastic discovery and there'd be no trouble releasing an album. I contacted Abbey Road Studios and they said to bring the tape along as they had all the equipment to turn it into an acceptable form.Then Iris phoned me. She said she'd try out the tape and see what was on it. She began playing it and the voice of Bob Wooler was making their introduction "...and now the golden boy himself..." and then a Cliff Richard radio show came on. Iris' mother had recorded over it!On the Mersey Beat site www.mersey-beat.com in the A&Z section, I have Johnny Guitar's diaries of the early career when Ringo was a member and he has given a list of the group's repertoire of the time.

No Gibson didn't remind me of Stu. Perhaps the resemblance is in the pictures that Astrid took of him - her style of photo. After all, Gibbo and Astrid did get married. After they divorced he moved to Australia as a record executive, then returned to a village called Radlett and opened a pub there. When Klaus came to Liverpool he invited Pete and Roag Best, John Frankland and his wife, me and Virginia, Paddy Chambers and Gibbo to dinner. It was a re-union of Paddy, Klaus & Gibson. Sadly, Paddy was too ill to attend and died soon after. Gibson found that the chef had left his pub and couldn't attend.Gibson and his second wife and daughter returned to Hamburg a few years ago to settle there. He has opened a pub restaurant. Kingsize Taylor and his wife also moved there, so they re-unite for live performances

Forgive me for posting material from my own book, but as a writer who is also a professional drummer, I've been asked constantly about my opinion of Ringo as a drummer, both in his own right and in comparison with Pete Best. To be sure, we don't have a whole lot of recorded evidence of Pete Best's playing circa 1960-62 apart from the Polydor Tony Sheridan tapes and the Parlophone audition tapes, but what we do have is pretty telling. In the interests of stimulating this discussion, I offer the following from Chapter 11 of "Can't Buy Me Love":